Fort Wayne, Indiana

Trentman Block Fire

November 12, 1896

WAS BURNING.

A Downtown Business Block Has a Narrow Escape from Destruction.

FIRE IS EXTINGUISHED

After Smouldering in the Union Line Office, in the Trentman Block.

Last night the Trentman block, on Calhoun street between Berry and Wayne, narrowly escaped being burned to the ground. Some time during the night a huge sky rocket crashed through the plate glass window in the office of the Union Line Freight company on the second floor of the building, and partially exploded in the room. A portion of the walnut desk was blown away and sparks of fire were scattered in all directions. A dozen holes were burned in the carpet, and in one corner near the grate the woodwork was scorched and the carpet burned a foot in diameter. The carpet, however, was not of a very combustible fibre and in consequence burned a moment and extinguished itself for want of food for the incipient flames. No knowledge of the fire in the office was communicated to anyone in the building and the escape from a serious conflagration in the heart of the city is almost a miracle.

Fort Wayne News, Fort Wayne, IN 13 Nov 1896

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